


Die peacefully, surrounded by loved ones

by mysterytour



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Death, Egeria as a mother, Friendship, Gen, Loss, Memory, Motherhood, Original Character(s), Sumerian, Tok'ra (Stargate), sardonic lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-08 02:30:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16420673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysterytour/pseuds/mysterytour
Summary: As he prepares to die, Selmak has visions of the most important people in his life.





	Die peacefully, surrounded by loved ones

**Aru**

 

‘Get the hell out of my way!’ The woman—all four foot six of her—knocked Selmak to the side, her elbow catching him sharply in the crook of his arm as she passed. She plonked the mixing bowl, onto the worktop and started shaping the mixture inside. The shape of her biceps seemed familiar; so did the hunch in her back, but Selmak couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Around the kitchen, there bread was at various stages of production. Trays of rolls were browning in the stone oven and four heavy sacks of flower slumped against a wall.

 

The construction of the room, from the wooden cabinets to the bronze grill over the window, suggested an organised society with low technological advancement. Selmak had no idea where (or when) he was or how he had got there, but he felt that he’d visited this place before. ‘Who are you?’ He asked the woman, who was now aggressively kneading dough against the worktop.

 

‘Who do you think,’ She grumbled, ‘read the sign!’

 

Selmak went outside. It was bright and baking hot and the street teemed with people and animals. Above the doorway, _Ar_ _u_ _-Shiptu’s Quality Baked Goods_ ****was etched in untidy Cuneiform script. Selmak gave himself a moment to take it in. He still wrote in Cuneiform from time to time, though he hadn’t used a stylus and tablet in centuries. As far as he knew, he was the last person in all the worlds to do so. He went back inside. ‘Aru-Shiptu, how could I forget my debut host?’

 

‘Get to work or get OUT of my kitchen!’ Aru-Shiptu booted him out of the way again and slapped a smooth ball of dough onto the worktop. It was peppered with tiny black grains that Selmak guessed were either grit or poppy seeds (perhaps both). Aru-Shiptu pointed at it aggressively, ‘I want braids!’

 

Selmak got to work at once shaping the dough into long, fat sausages. ‘Do you know who I am?’ He asked her.

 

‘A pain in my ass, that’s what!’

 

‘This memory is entirely yours. Enlil destroyed all this before we were blended.’

 

‘That’s right—today’s the day and I want all this done before it starts raining fire!’ She didn’t look up.

 

‘Almost everyone on this world will be slain in a single day; but you will rebuild and our people will be great allies for centuries to come.’

 

‘Yeah well,’ Aru smiled, broadly. ‘you got the big damn guns, and we got the damn good bread.’

 

‘I regret that my siblings could not prevent it.’

 

Aru thrust the tray into the flames and wiped her hands on her trousers. ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll get that fucker back, you and me; that’s the next best thing.’

 

And they did. Selmak remembered it as though it had happened only days ago: Enlil choking on blood and saliva. Aru’s forearm locked against his throat. When the symbiote finally came slithering out of the host’s mouth, Aru seized him with both hands and bit his head off.

 

‘I still utilise the lessons you taught me,’ Selmak paused, for thought ‘though I will not indulge in cannibalism on further occasions.’

 

‘I didn’t think of it like that!’ Aru laughed, ‘You puked on my good tunic. That’s when I knew for sure—you’re not gods! Clever worms, that’s all you are.’

 

‘Though not as clever as we think.’

 

‘Start that one again. Why are you always so sloppy?’

 

‘Well, I always thought your flatbread was too dry.’ Selmak worked and watched Aru-Shiptu work. She rushed from one side of the kitchen to the other, measuring out large quantities of ingredients and throwing them together by guesswork alone.

 

Aru-Shiptu was Selmak’s maiden host, and he had a deep respect for her as well and feared her. Even now, when two long millennia had passed since her death and nothing was left but the shadow of memory, she frightened him still. She was loud and rude and fierce as a cave bear, but she was also selfless. The Tok’ra had found her distributing the last of her bread to the survivors. She had forgotten to keep back anything for herself. Selmak had been proud to call her his host.

 

‘Aru,’ Selmak realised. ‘I believe I am dying.’

 

‘Well, look at you,’ Aru waved a hand, ‘you’re old as shit. And so pale—you look like a ghost!’

 

Selmak studied his hands. Aru was right, they were uncommonly pale. Worn and calloused. A man’s. He touched his cheek.

 

Jacob Carter.

 

Jacob, who was not here. Selmak searched his mind and found only himself. ‘Jacob?’ He said, aloud.

 

No response. Except from Aru. ‘What, are you talking to yourself, now?’

 

‘I am attempting to locate my host,’ Selmak explained, ‘but he’s not here.’

 

‘Maybe he got tired of your yammering.’

 

Selmak finished plaiting the last loaf. It looked good, he thought. Delicious. ‘Ah—this is poppy seed bread!’

 

‘Not just any poppy bread— _special poppy_  bread.’ Aru beamed, offering him a tray.

 

‘Ah, yes. The particular variety is very potent.’ Selmak deposited his loaves onto the tray and Aru carried it to the oven.

 

‘Damn right. Real good shit.’ Aru wiped her hands on her apron and watched as the dough began to rise and brown in the flames.

 

The official Tok’ra stance on narcotics was that it was a distraction from _the work_ as well as a violation of the host’s body, therefore not permissible, so of course they indulged in secret. Aru’s special bread had been very popular. After her death Selmak had tried her recipe many times but never managed todo it justice.

 

The street outside fell silent.

 

‘He’s coming!’ Selmak gasped.

 

‘No, Selmak, you’re going—you ain’t got long!’

 

The oven fell dark. Selmak felt the stone. Cold, as though the fire had never been lit. Aru took off her apron and folded it on the worktop. ‘We’re done.’ She announced.

 

‘I’m glad we got the chance to bake together one last time.’ He told her.

 

The corners of Aru’s eyes wrinkled when she smiled, ‘I’m not. You’re a shitty baker.’

 

‘Then I suppose I must bid you farewell.’

 

Aru hugged Selmak tight around his middle. ‘You annoy the shit outta me, but I’m gonna miss you.’

 

And then she was gone. Hardly a second later, the kitchen was gone, too.

 

**Saroosh**

 

The Stargate stood in a carpet of bluebells. Pale spring sunshine worked its way through a canopy of elm and birch and lime and cast soft, dappled shadows on the forest floor. The air was cool and earthy, as though it had just rained. The wormhole splash had neatly deadheaded the flowers in its wake and left a patch of green in the sea of blue, which was where Selmak found himself. He’d been meaning to come back here for more than a hundred years. It was incredible how easily nature reclaimed the site. Seeing no reason to wear shoes in his own imagination, Selmak took them off. The bed of bluebells invited him, so he lay amongst them.

 

After a short while, someone lay down beside him. ‘If we’re going to roll around in the dirt, you might have brought a lovely lady to roll around _with_.’Saroosh grumbled.

 

‘I was wondering when you’d turn up.’ Selmak couldn’t stop himself from grinning. ‘I’ve missed you so,dear Saroosh.’

 

‘How can you miss me? We go everywhere together.’ Saroosh tutted and wriggled her toes. ‘Oh Selmak, you’ve ruined my nail polish!’

 

‘My sincerest apologies.’ Selmak told her, insincerely.

 

This was Saroosh in her fifties, hair greying but still shot through with some of its original orange.

 

Her spirit would never grey.

 

‘Where have Garshaw and Yosuuf got to? Aren’t joining us?’ Saroosh complained.

 

‘They ended things, remember?’

 

‘Oh, well—life goes on.’

 

‘It does. For a time.’

 

‘So  _that’s_ why I’m here.’ Saroosh stood and offered Selmak her hand, ‘Just because you’re dying it doesn’t mean you have to do it lying down. Have some dignity.’ she said, pulling him up.

 

For a while they walked in silence, enjoying each other’s company. The waterlogged moss was pleasantly soft under Selmak’s feat. They had said so much to one another over the years, it hardly seemed necessary to speak. Song birds, blue and golden, danced in the foliage. Selmak listened to their boisterous calls. Saroosh had a pack with her—goodness knows what was in it.

 

‘How did Jacob Carter work out?’ Saroosh asked.

 

‘Quite well, actually.’

 

Saroosh snorted. ‘ _Actually.’_

 

‘He required a great deal of work, as did I, admittedly, but we got there in the end.’

 

‘His offspring would have made a wonderful host. It’s a pity Jolinar ruined things for her.’

 

‘I quite agree. Samantha Carter is more intelligent than most and more compassionate than _any_ of us.’

 

‘And notably beautiful, I might add.’

 

‘I must insist you stop there, friend, she is as a daughter to me.’

 

Saroosh clicked her tongue, ‘What kind of person do you think I am? Besides, she’s much too young for me.’

 

‘I am beyond delighted.’

 

‘Well, this is a good a place as any.’ Saroosh let her pack drop from her shoulder and started taking things out: a blanket, which she rolled out across the grass, a bottle of red wine, a cork screw and two goblets. ‘If we asked nicely, do you Yosuuf would join us for one last tryst?’

 

Selmak joined her on the blanket, ‘My dear host, I’ve had more than enough good sex to see me through my final moments.’

 

‘My good symbiote, _I_ haven’t!’

 

‘Your final moments have long since passed!’

 

‘The statement still stands.’ Saroosh poured herself a glass, ‘I can’t believe I prepared all this for nothing.’

 

‘It’s not for me?’

 

Saroosh gave Selmak a withering look and passed him a goblet. The stem sat comfortably between his fingers.

 

‘Saroosh, I think something very odd is happening. I do not remember travelling here; nor or do I remember what I was doing beforehand.’

 

‘Hm.’

 

‘Don’t you think that’s odd?’

 

‘Rather. What’s the last thing you remember?’

 

‘Well, it’s hard to say exactly. I was very annoyed for some… oh dear...’

 

‘Yes, dear?’

 

‘We were working with Ba’al.’

 

‘The goa’uld?’

 

‘Yes, I think it was something to do with the replicators.’

 

‘Well, I’m glad I didn’t live to see _that_.’

 

‘I’m almost sorry that I did.’

 

‘Can you remember anything more specific?’

 

Selmak tried to think, ‘Oh yes; we were at SGC, in the mess hall, consuming a substance known as “Jell-O”, when I found myself overcome with exhaustion. But after that, there was _something…_ It’s no use, I cannot remember.’

 

‘Aha! What you’re experiencing is organ failure.’ Saroosh supped her goblet—as elegant in death as she was in life. And no less direct. ‘As well you know, much of symbiote memory is stored in the DNA. In the organs. So they must be shutting down. As it progresses you will remember less and less. Your personality is stored in the brain, which will be the last thing to go. And that’ll be it. No more Selmak.’

 

Selmak held out his goblet and allowed Saroosh to fill it to the brim. He drank it all in one gulp.

 

‘It’s not as bad as it sounds.’ Saroosh tried.

 

‘Saroosh, my last meal was Jell-O.’

 

‘Oh, darling,’ Saroosh refilled his cup, again, ‘try and enjoy the wine. And the fine company, of course.’’

 

‘Perhaps it would help if you described what it was like for you.’

 

‘If that’s what you want. There was blood and pain… flashes of things that happened to me, and to you. It won’t be like that for you, of course. Having your symbiote suddenly remove themselves from your brain, especially when you’re past your second centenary is quite traumatic.’

 

‘Oh! I’m so sorry to have injured you.’

 

‘It was over quickly, if it makes you feel any better.’ Saroosh poured out the rest of the wine, ‘But _t_ _his_ isn’t so bad, is it?’

 

The ground was getting colder. Selmak sensedthe depth of the earth below him, feel it compacting under its own weight as though it was calling to him. Earth burials were a commonplace human practice, not Tok’ra. Selmak and Jacob could not speak to one another, but perhaps it was still possible for some feeling to bleed through. He hoped it was the case. ‘My dear,’ he announced, ‘I feel that it is time to leave you.’

 

‘Already? Such a shame.’

 

Selmak held out his cup, ‘A toast—to fine wine and fine women.’

 

Saroosh’s eyes danced as her cup met his, ‘to superb wine and _outstanding_ women!’

 

**Mother**

 

‘Mother?’

 

‘Yes my precious, it’s me.’

 

Symbiotes were not privy to childhood, not in the way that humans were, but they had mothers. Almost every Tok’ra had the same mother, and her name was Egeria. They loved her as much as any human loved theirs.

 

Egeria opened her arms and Selmak went to her like a fledgling leaning into his very first embrace. He noticed nothing of his surroundings. Thoughts of death ceased. He could think of nothing else but her.

 

At last, Egeria released him. ‘Walk with me.’ She told him.

 

The path—uneven and narrow—ran along side a glacier. It had been there, scouring its way through the valley for a million years or more, but in the last few hundred it had begun to retreat. In a few hundred more, a river would run in it’s place.

 

Egeria’s host was Ashakseht. Grey eyes, jade beads in her hair. The torque around her neck was made from gold of the deepest yellow. She was a local Pharoah on this world of ice and stone and steppe. It was here that the Tok’ra had made their first base, deep under the permafrost. Goa’uld hardly had use for such a world, with a climate too cold for comfort and tundra that rolled from arctic circle to equator. They had worn the heavy pelts of polar bears and elephant seals, white and grey. Their camouflage was so effective Ashakseht’s nation had called them People of the Landscape.

 

Cold climates still reminded Selmak of home.

 

Deserts never had.

 

So they walked. All of the things that Selmak had wanted to tell Egeria over the years suddenly seemed trite. He followed in silence. The planet’s grand ring system swept across the clear sky from horizon to horizon. At night they scattered so much light onto the planet’s surface they washed out all but the brightest stars.

 

‘You’re being very quiet, today.’ Egeria observed.

 

‘I’m always quiet.’ Selmak told her.

 

‘Even quieter than usual.’

 

‘This memory—it was the last time we saw each other, wasn’t it?’

 

‘Yes, my beloved child.’

 

‘We were planning a direct attack against Ra.’

 

‘That’s right.’

 

‘Do you know what’s going to happen?’

 

‘The assault will fail. Many of your siblings will die and I will be imprisoned, until...’

 

Selmak bowed his head. It was not until Malek had stood before the High Council, voicing shaking, and told them what had happened, that he’d realised just how much he’d missed her. So much he could hardly speak of it.

 

No one could, really.

 

‘I named them all, at first.’ Egeria said. For the final decades of her life, she would languish in tepid, green water as her children were slaughtered in their thousands. It made Selmak’s stomach churn.

 

‘We should never have stopped looking for you.’

 

‘Nonsense, my darling; our resources are much too precious.’

 

‘Not as precious as you.’

 

Egeria found a small boulder beside the path and sat upon it. Selmak joined her. The stone was so cold he could hardly bare it. If Jacob was here, he would’ve made him stand. ‘My darling child, Ra and his kind must be stopped,’ Egeria explained, gently, ‘ _that_ is the most important thing. More important than life. Even more-so than a mother’s love.’

 

Selmak believed it, too. But still, he would let the galaxy burn for one last moment with his mother.

 

Further up the side of the valley, hyraxes scuttled amongst the stones and chewed on thin grass that sprouted between them. ‘Mother, I am not ready to die.’ Selmak mused.

 

‘And yet you must.’ Egeria took Selmak’s hand. How he had missed the softness of her touch; the warmth in her eyes. ‘There will come a time when there are no more Tok’ra, but our legacy will remain. People will be free because of us.’

 

‘I know.’ Selmak admitted. He looked across the valley to the distant peaks that shone like crystal towers in the afternoon sun. A great scavenging bird skirted the mountainside, a black silhouette against sheet-white snow. ‘I don’t recall that last time I bore witness to such a creature.’

 

‘It was here, several decades before you were forced to abandon this world for good.’ Egeria reminded him. The people of this world had named it  _sun-darkener_ ; wings so wide and black they could cast a shadow overthe world.Selmak hadn’t noticed their numbers decline. Nor had he noticed when years passed without a single sighting.

 

‘I have seen them nowhere else.’ Selmak said, ‘I wonder if the last of them died on this world.’

 

‘The Ancient spread the beasts of Tau’ri across the whole galaxy. There are thousands of worlds that could harbour such creatures.’

 

Selmak did not share his mother’s optimism.

 

‘Mother, do you think the Tok’ra will be remembered?’

 

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Egeria released his hand. ‘It’s time for you to go, now.’

 

‘Already?’

 

‘Already.’

 

‘You knew that I loved you, didn’t you?’

 

‘Until my very last breath. We will be together again, very soon.’ Egeria told him, ‘All of us.’

 

More than anything, he wanted to believe it.

 

**Stranger**

 

Faceless Tok’ra in beige and brown and white talked nonsense and ate with enthusiasm.

 

In front of him someone had lain out a banquet of his favourite foods: pink grapefruit in halves, cashews coated in honey and cinnamon, an Earth food called chocolate which he had grown extremely fond of. He got started on a mango and lychee sorbet that instantly melted deliciously in his mouth. He turned to the woman beside him and tried to engage her in conversation, but but she would not reply.

 

This, he realised, was to be his last meal.

 

Much better than Jell-O.

 

‘Hi.’

 

A woman all in white seated herself opposite him. There was a strange light around her; it clung softly to her hair and illuminated her skin. She had a face, but Selmak didn’t know it.

 

‘Selmak.’

 

Selmak ignored her.

 

‘My name is Oma Desala.’ The woman elaborated, patiently.

 

‘Go away. I will not waste my last moments with a stranger.’

 

Oma’s eyes sparked. ‘You are not imagining this encounter. This place is a conjuring of your mind; I, however, am not.’

 

‘Oh. I’m sorry about...’

 

‘That’s quite alright.’

 

‘Is there a purpose to this visit?’

 

‘Yes. I have come to make you an offer.’

 

‘Very well. Eat with me.’

 

Oma smiled and popped a cashew into her mouth. Selmak watched her roll it around on her tongue for a few moments before crunching delightedly through the sugary coating. He wondered when she had last really eaten. ‘Please. I couldn’t possibly eat all of this myself.’

 

‘Selmak, you are the wisest of your kind.’ Oma began, ‘Indeed, one of the wisest of any kind. Pragmatic. Brave. Not easily swayed by the foolishness of others. Even your kin.’

 

‘Kind words.’

 

‘But not without cause. I have come to make a proposition. The Ancients, as you call us have lived through millennia, but we are not so wise as we wish to be.’

 

‘Would you mind getting to the point? I’m about to die.’

 

‘We have use for your talent. If you wish it, I can help you to ascend, as I helped Daniel Jackson.’

 

‘And...’ A Goa’uld whose name Selmak was unable to recall.

 

‘All the more reason to count a Tok’ra among our number.’

 

In an instant, death seemed remote. And yet, ever present as it had been, every day of his life. ‘And if I chose such a path, would Jacob walk it with me?’

 

Oma hesitated. And remained silent.

 

‘What will happen to him, if I choose to go?’

 

‘He will die, imminently.’

 

Selmak finished his sorbet and started on the cashews, ‘I’m sure you know that a great deal of my wisdom comes from him.’

 

‘And his from you.’

 

‘Quite. But what is a symbiote without a host?’ he decided. ‘Thank you for the offer, but must decline.’

 

‘Not as I had hoped, but as I expected.’ Oma reached across the table and squeezed his forearm, ‘Die peacefully, Selmak. Surrounded by loved ones.’

 

‘Am I?’ Selmak asked, quickly.

 

Oma smiled sincerely, ‘Samantha is beside you. She will be with you until the very end.’

 

**Jacob**

 

A pool in a desert.

 

A world, scorched by two blood orange suns, that was nothing but rock and sand and wind and sky. The pool did not belong here; it had been conjured from some other corner of Selmak’s memory. Clear water moved over a bed of pebbles, white and brown.

 

There was no sound but gently flowing water.

 

Jacob stood at the water’s edge, watching ripples break over the sand. ‘Hey, Selmak.’ He said, gently. ‘I gotta say, it’s weird talking to you like this.’

 

‘Jacob...’ The voice resonated with an unfamiliar timbre and sat strangely in the throat. The pool mirrored a tall woman with dark brown skin and cropped, reddish hair. Selmak did not know her face. ‘Who am I?’

 

‘It’s how you pictured yourself when you were a little kid, remember? Before you took your first host.’

 

‘Of course. I always imagined myself looking like Mother’s host.’

 

Jacob chuckled. Selmak had seen that look on his face countless times in mirrors. It was surreal to see it in third person. ‘Are you really here?’ She asked.

 

Jacob shook his head. ‘You’re too far gone. I can’t reach you.’

 

Selmak searched for her real body. She imagined herself, nestled in the tight cavity between the trachea and spinal column. The heat of the surrounding tissue. The coma had blocked out all sensation, and the world beyond her illusion was completely and permanently out of reach. She felt only soft sand between her toes and the blast furnace of desert air. ‘Oh no.’ She realised, ‘What have I done? I should have left you when it was still possible...’

 

‘I don’t want you to get upset.’ Jacob pulled her into a big hug, ‘All that matters is the big picture. Like your mom said, what happens to us isn’t important.’

 

Selmak didn't know what he meant. ‘You didn’t need me to do what had to be done. I should have gone.’

 

‘Do you remember the promise you made to me?’ Jacob asked.

 

‘Yes—that we’d be together until your dying breath. I make it to each of my hosts.’

 

‘That’s right. I agreed to spend the rest of my life with you, Selmak, and I ialways make good on my promises.’

 

Selmak rested her chin on Jacob’s shoulder (the shoulder that used to be hers, too) and gazed into the distance. Strange—the horizon was dark, and getting darker. It was eating into the distant landscape, bleeding away the colour and dissolving the shapes. It reminded Selmak not of the pall of night or the distant black of interstellar space, but the close, claustrophobic gloom of the crystalline tunnels where she had lived out most of her days.

 

And now, at long last, Selmak had come to her final day. There were many times when she had faced the possibility of death, but never its certainty. Selmak was terrified. Jacob’s arms tightened around her shoulders as though he knew what she was thinking. Of course he did. Their minds were intertwined. Inseparable. Selmak could not imagine him any other way.

 

‘I heard you got a job offer.’ Jacob said.

 

‘I turned it down.’

 

‘Then you’re an idiot. I want you to take it.’

 

‘Not without you.’ Selmak’s eyes were wet.

 

‘I couldn’t stand on the sidelines and watch history unfold. It’s not my style.’

 

‘Nor is it mine.’ Selmak peeled herself from his arms. The middle-ground was fading fast. She was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open.

 

‘You’re down to your last seconds.’ Jacob warned her.

 

‘Jacob,’ she admitted, ‘I am very afraid.’

 

‘I know.’ He took her hands, ‘I’m right here, with you.’

 

The middle-ground was almost gone.

 

‘I wish you were really here.’

 

‘I _am_ here. You’re part of me. Nothing’s gonna change that.’

 

Theforeground was losing its detail.

 

‘Okay, time to wrap this up.’ Jacob said. It was a curious turn of phrase. Selmak had enjoyed exploring Jacob’s language with him, and his culture, too. That was the gift of blending. Jacob shared with her a lifetime of experience, and Selmak shared all the lifetimes that had come before him.

 

‘Thank you for helping me to die.’ She told him, wiping away the tears.

 

‘Thank _you_ for helping me to live. You gave me my son and daughter, my grandkids. Everything that matters in my lifeI owe to you.’

 

The darkness was closing in.

 

‘Goodbye, my dearest Jacob. I only wish we had more time.’

 

‘I don’t. What we had was perfect. It was enough.’Jacob laughed, ‘And we kicked goa’uld ass.’

 

‘And replicator, too!’ He was right—it _was_ perfect.

 

In the very last moments, there was little else to do but remember. Arid super continents, biospheres with endless forms and silent worlds locked in ice; blue skies and red and purple and green. Though his life had been long indeed, Selmak had had little time to contemplate the wonders of the galaxy and he had seized the opportunity whenever it presented itself, but such wonders were infinitesimal compared to Saroosh’s exuberance, Jacob’s resolve. The laughter of lovers. Whatever happened next, Selmak knew that she could take none of it with her. She savoured memories as they faded, held them tightly until they slipped from her grasp completely.

 

It was so hard to let go.

 

‘Time’s up.’ Jacob told her, with a smile.

 

Selmak breathed. It was over. All around, a blank infinity. Black, like a Jaffa’s belly.

 

And just like that, all the uncertainty left her. Peace washed through in its wake. Like a river.

 

Like a sandstorm.

 

Perhaps dying wasn’t so bad, after all.

 

Jacob turned away from her and began to walk into the gloom. Selmak hesitated, unsure of what to do next. Jacob turned back and held out his hand, expectantly. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘are you coming?’

**Author's Note:**

> Fic playlist:
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/user/jolinare/playlist/3YVhF2NvoWOGTlkdCjq8Qz?si=5cnfHimbRUyNqaHS6VHAOQ
> 
> The bird in 'Egeria' is Argentavis Magnificens.


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